Survive (Survivre)

Survive is an eco-disaster thriller that pits a family of four, celebrating a birthday out in the ocean sea fishing, swimming, and relaxing, when a freak change in the Earth’s poles drains the oceans of water and forces them to overcome hitherto unknown wild nature and humanity at its best and worst.

The reversal of the magnetic pols leaves anyone caught out in the open in the deep and massive ravines and crevasses that were once covered with water. Here director Frédéric Jardin provides some impressive visuals as the family tramp what was once the ocean floor.

However the visuals are probably what most will take away from Survive. As once into gear it ploughs along a familiar furrow of family casualty, the quest for safety. As well a psychopath, armed survivors that jealously protect what they have.

Then there’s also the crabs released from the former depths, a la Piranha 3D that are very hungry, and cause merry bloody mayhem all over the place.

The eco-fear is laid on with a trowel, though falls to the background once the traumatised family are forced to deal with the aforementioned hazards. It comes back into play later on as they encounter lots of plastic detritus and when the survivors receive some unlikely news.

Survive is from the Roland Emmerich school of improbable global catastrophic events just not as much fun. Though I don’t think this is supposed to be as at the beginning there’s po faced statement that the Earth’s has had five previous extinctions and is on the verge of the sixth.

And it’s not a new idea the Earth being rocked off its poles into a disaster as that was the tenet of The Day the Earth Caught Fire in 1961.

Survive had its UK premiere at London Pigeon Shrine FrightFest, 24 August 2024

Survive will be available on Digital Platforms 30 September.